Financial education charity launches new initiative

Financial education charity Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG) has launched a new scheme to give young people the skills and knowledge to become financially capable in the future.

The current economic situation is one of the most challenging faced by any generation and young people face a difficult time in the coming years as finances start to become stretched.

PFEG has therefore launched Take Charge, which will increase co-operation and co-ordination in the financial education and enterprise education sectors.

The scheme aims to use the collective strength, knowledge and experience of 25 partner charities to empower and engage children and young adults to take more responsibility over their money, life and opportunities.

PFEG hopes to create a State of the Nation map of existing provision of financial and enterprise education in the UK in 2013. Once this map is drawn up, the expertise of the 25 charities will be used to identify a list of skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding that young people need in order to be financially capable and employable.

Some of the skills young people will require include critical thinking, decision making and teamwork.

David Frost CBE, chair of the Take Charge Advisory Panel, said: "Young people today face enormous challenges – finding a job in a difficult market, managing their money despite the relentless squeeze on household incomes and avoiding the perils of falling into unmanageable debt."

A five year strategy for Take Charge is currently being devised to set the direction of the movement in 2014 and beyond.

Standard Life is funding the Take Charge initiative's first year and group operations officer at the company Sandy Begbie said the scheme will "make a real difference over the long term" as those who already help young people will be able to take a collective approach and work together to find new ways of improving the quality and impact of their support.

As families struggle to balance the books it is important for the younger generation to learn about money management as it will be such an important facet of their lives when they grow older.

By James Francis

Find out more about money management on the ClearDebt blog.